A white dwarf star that completes a full rotation once every 25 seconds is the fastest spinning confirmed white dwarf, according to a team of astronomers led by the University of Warwick.
A white dwarf star that completes a full rotation once every 25 seconds is the fastest spinning confirmed white dwarf, according to a team of astronomers led by the University of Warwick.
They have established the spin period of the star for the first time, confirming it as an extremely rare example of a magnetic propeller system: the white dwarf is pulling gaseous plasma from a nearby companion star and flinging it into space at around 3000 kilometres per second.
Reported today (22 November) in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, it is only the second magnetic propeller white dwarf to have been identified in over seventy years thanks to a combination of powerful and sensitive instruments that allowed scientists to catch a glimpse of the speeding star.
The study was led by the University of Warwick with the University of Sheffield, and funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation, and the Leverhulme Trust.
Read more at University of Warwick
Image: Artist impression of LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9, the fastest spinning confirmed white dwarf and only second ever magnetic propeller known. Material is being pulled from the companion and flung into space at high speed. A small fraction of it is accreted, gathering in bright spots that rotate in and out of view, which allowed the detection of the rotation period. (Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick) (Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick)
